


A New Adventure

by alafaye



Series: Travels [3]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-09
Updated: 2012-12-09
Packaged: 2017-11-20 17:07:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/587746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alafaye/pseuds/alafaye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How the Doctor meet Ianto and what happened after.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A New Adventure

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2012 holiday advent challenge at the LJ community "adventchallenge". Prompt is "bauble". Also covers the "imitate" square for my cotton candy bingo.

The Doctor wrinkled his nose as the human behind him sent out another blast. "No need for all that."

"He'll live," the brown haired man said. "Got him in the leg." The man looked behind himself at the Doctor with half a smile. "I was trained better than to just shoot and kill."

The Doctor ignored him. He changed settings on the sonic again and the door opened with a hiss. "There we go! Come on!" He grabbed the man's hand and pulled them into the control room. The door closed and the Doctor locked it.

The human looked around. "Which button do you think?"

The Doctor ran his hands along the rows of panels and keyboards. "What's your name?"

"Ianto," he said.

The Doctor nodded. "Well, Ianto, we're looking for the one that will route the security feed in the negotiation room to the general public."

Ianto hummed and sat behind one of the screens showing the hallway outside the negotiation room. He looked at the keys in front of him and smirked. "He told me that it translated written words, but I never believed it." He typed in a series of codes and the screen changed from the hallway to the negotiation room.

"How do you know how to do that?" the Doctor asked. "I know you're not from around here. And for that matter, who told you what about written words?"

"The system is similar to something I used to use," Ianto mused wistfully. "It's actually a basic kind of program. I've run into others here and there." Another sequence of codes and he sat back. "There we are, broadcasting out to the public, including audio." He sighed and his voice softened. "And an old friend told me about the translation program."

The Doctor laughed. "Brilliant." Their pursuers started banging on the door. "Ah, now here's another problem. How to get out?"

Ianto cleared his throat and looked up. "How do you feel about crawling through duct work?"

The Doctor looked up himself at the open vent and sighed. "I just got this coat cleaned."

~~~

Later, Ianto made his goodbyes just by the Tardis. He looked sad. "No, I should really be going. It was fun, though."

The Doctor shook his head and ushered him in through the doors. "I'm afraid not. I've got some questions and I have a feeling the old girl will know exactly what's going on." Oh, of course he wanted to run in the opposite direction; his head was ringing and the Tardis was a tad uneasy.

Ianto groaned and the Tardis' lights danced. A cord of apprehension and curiosity echoed in the Doctor's head. He patted the consol soothingly. "Now, let's start with why you do not want to be here. I've not yet met a human who wasn't interested in my ship, but you seem to want to run as far as you can in the other direction."

Ianto shrugged. "I know better is all."

The Doctor narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean, you know better?"

Ianto rolled his eyes up. "I know Jack."

Jack. _Jack?_ "Jack Harkness?"

Ianto nodded. "Unless you know another Jack Harkness."

"Well, now, I think I know what's going on and there is no other Jack you could be talking about," the Doctor said. He crossed his arms and leaned his hip against a railing.

Ianto took a deep breath. "I worked for Torchwood."

The Doctor hummed. "Yes, I remember. You were there when..." He cleared his throat and let out a heavy breath. "The Daleks. And the other me. And all of that other nonsense. I try not to think about it, but I remember. Ianto Jones. Jack told me about you."

Ianto looked shocked. "He did?"

The Doctor nodded. "Yes, he did. The last time I saw him must have been about ten years ago in my timeline, but for Jack, years after the whole mess back on Earth." The Doctor pinned Ianto with a sharp eye. "He doesn't know that you're alive."

Ianto shuffled his feet. "No. I'd rather he didn't, actually." He tapped the door with a knuckle. "Can I go now?"

The Tardis hummed a discordant note and the Doctor chuckle. "She doesn't want you to go."

Ianto raised an eyebrow. "What? I thought--well, Jack told me that neither you nor her can stand him."

"And so you thought she wouldn't want you," the Doctor finished. "Thank you. I thought I was right, but good to know I still got it. You're immortal, like Jack."

"Yeah," Ianto said. "Yeah. Immortal. Woke up in my own grave with Jack off to who knows where."

The Doctor winced. Not the best reawakening, he supposed. Then again, no one had likely known. Least of all Ianto. "But you're not looking for answers."

"Jack told me that you couldn't help him," Ianto pointed out. "I won't ask the same. I'd much rather be gone, please."

The Tardis shook and bubbled and the Doctor laughed. "She must like you, Ianto Jones."

Ianto, holding tight to a railing, asked, "Where are we going?"

"Oh, nothing so bad as the end of everything," the Doctor said, watching the screen. "Just into the Vortex. Quiet. You can't run in there."

"Why?" Ianto groaned. "I just want to--"

"To do what?" the Doctor asked. "What is it you do with your immortal life, Ianto Jones?"

~~~

The Doctor found Ianto in one of the gardens. As soon as the young man had realized he had been trapped, he had refused to talk and the Doctor let him go. It was clear Ianto needed time. 

Time. The Doctor sighed and crossed his arms, standing still in the corridor. Ianto felt different to the Doctor than Jack did. In Jack, the Doctor could feel the Vortex, feel the way time just _wasn't_ around him. Jack was a big, still, vibrant pool in the middle of a gigantic ocean. Out of place. Ianto, though, felt like a drifting current in the ocean, a little vortex steam drifting and not interrupting anyone or anything. 

He walked into the garden and a distant shape shifted to the right. He smiled as he joined Ianto by a tree. "Are you okay?"

Ianto sighed. "I want to go back."

The Doctor put his hands in his pockets. "So you're doing all right living a normal life?"

"As normal as one can when one is going to live forever," Ianto said.

"What's that like?" the Doctor asked. "I've lived on the slow path for a while myself, but it was with UNIT. So not a whole lot of exposure to the regular nine to five kind of thing you humans and the rest of the universe prefer."

"I haven't worked a nine to five in years," Ianto said. "I work as a musician. Sometimes I get caught up in the messes like the one you found me in, but I've got a bit of a reputation as a good shot."

"Yes, I saw that myself," the Doctor mused. "A very good aim. I dislike guns myself, but I appreciate someone who is trained properly. Was it Jack who taught you that or did you learn somewhere else? I imagine Torchwood would have been very eager to get their hands on someone like you."

"Jack trained me, but Torchwood One recruited me because of my marks in school," Ianto explained.

"One," the Doctor echoed. "So you must have been there when--"

"Yeah."

A deep silence fell and the Doctor winced. He licked his lips and rocked on the balls of his feet, wondering how to fix this one. If Ianto had worked for Jack, then Ianto couldn't have been as bad as those who were running One and therefore didn't deserve the Doctor resenting him for what had happened at One. But Ianto's tone implied something else had happened. Someone he loved--turned into a Cyberman? Well, the Doctor wasn't going to ask.

"You're different from Jack," the Doctor said eventually. "Jack is a big rock in time. You are a little slip, unobtrusive and quiet."

Ianto raised an eyebrow. "What's that mean?"

The Doctor shrugged. "I'm not sure. My senses are the same as yours--not as accurate as computer. But I can tell."

Ianto took a deep breath. "I grew up around the Rift, in Wales. When I was born, there was some kind of storm. The archives at Torchwood only recorded a spike in rift activity, but who knows?"

The Doctor hummed. "What about Jack? Anything..." He flapped his hand and his mouth twisted in disgust. "...weird ever happen?"

Ianto shook his head. "No. Nothing. Well...there was once." He coughed and flushed, though not in embarrassment. Regret? Guilt? Sometimes figuring out human emotions from their faces made the Doctor's head spin. Ianto sighed. "There was a fight at the Hub and I lost consciousness. I'm not sure whether it was just a black out or if I...but when I came to, Jack was kissing me."

Well, that was a new spin on the whole mouth to mouth thing. The Doctor wrinkled his nose. "Well, there's no computer in the universe, even here, to find out how it happened, unfortunately. Not like there's ever been a real call to find out why humans turn immortal. Jack wasn't supposed to be, but now there are two of you. Mind you, you're lucky that Gallifrey is locked in a time bubble and I'm the last Time Lord. They'd have you two locked away until they figured out how to undo it all."

"Would they really do that?" Ianto asked quickly. "Could they do that?"

The Doctor knew that wistful tone. He'd heard it sometimes in Jack's when he talked about the lives he'd lived and the people he had loved. "Oh, Ianto. They wouldn't be nice about it. They'd just as soon kill you to undo it. And I know there are days when you'd rather that, but I hope you will one day see that it's okay. That the bad days make the good days amazing."

"Are there good days?" Ianto asked quietly.

The Doctor kneeled down and smiled. "Always. There are always good days." He nodded. "Right. Stay in here all you want. I may get it wrong by a day or month or two, but I can get you back right where you were."

"Thank you. She uh..." Ianto smiled. "The Tardis I think has been singing."

The Doctor blinked. "Singing? You can hear her?"

"Always been a little psychic."

Born during what was likely a rift storm, psychic, literally given the kiss of life by Jack, could hear the Tardis. The Doctor grinned. "You are lovely, Ianto Jones. I hope you stay here for a bit. I think I'm going to like you a lot."

~~~

It was cold when they stepped out of the Tardis, but the view made up for it. The Doctor laughed and spun in a circle as streams of light from prisms and fairy lights danced everywhere. Snow was falling in little waves and the sound of giggling echoed through the streets. "You humans were absolutely brilliant when you created Christmas."

Ianto tucked his hands into his pea coat and raised an eyebrow. "Created Christmas? Are we going to need to have one of those philosophical, metaphysical discussions again?"

The Doctor sighed happily. Jack was good for discussing mechanics and River his life and Jenny saving people, but Ianto had a gift for discussing the meaning of life and the hows of the universe. The Doctor and Ianto had created a bond around such discussions, often forgetting they were even in the vortex or somewhere they needed to be paying attention. 

"No, no," the Doctor said. "Later, maybe, but we are here to have fun and not do anything but enjoy the sights."

Ianto shrugged. "If you say so."

The Doctor blinked. "What's that mean? Are you going to be another one of those types who thinks I can't go anywhere without something happening?"

Ianto pretended to think hard about the question. "Considering that we're not yet landed anywhere that we just have fun, I believe that is a rhetorical question and will treat it as such."

The Doctor sighed and took Ianto's hand in his. "Come on. We need to stop at a bakery--they make these cakes that feel like you're biting into a star. Not hard and you know, rocky. But wonderfully hot and bright and yellowy and sparkly."

And so the day went. It was quiet and there were never any guards and no one asked them for help (other than the nice grandmother who asked if they could get something down off a shelf for her). The Doctor could feel Ianto's lightened heart. When he told Ianto that there were good days, he wanted to give Ianto one such day. It was difficult because even the Doctor could admit that trouble followed him around. But sometimes there were good days and the Doctor was glad to give Ianto today.

He stopped at one of the street stalls and lifted a little glass ornament. Stronger than glass, but the effect was the same. Inside it was a scientific marvel: a replica of a growing universe that would grow and then fade and be reborn. It relied on time energy--something that was rich here on Ctulgh, but Ianto's closeness with the Vortex would keep the bauble working for years to come.

He paid for the bauble and bounded back over to Ianto who was watching one of the light shows. The Doctor's hearts warmed seeing the colors dance across Ianto's face and he chided himself. Ianto did not need another immortal in love with him and he certainly would never want someone whose life was as chaotic as the Doctor's. But the Doctor did smile when he approached Ianto.

"I got you something," he said. He held up the bauble. "It runs on time energy so it should always work for you. A scientific marvel, in fact. Completely harmless--it's just a trick of prisms and a few elements."

Ianto watched the universe inside age and he slowly smiled. "It's beautiful. Thank you." He wrapped it in a small piece of cloth he drew out of a pocket and tucked it inside a pocket on his vest. He cupped the Doctor's cheek and kissed him, just a little warming peck.

The Doctor blinked and Ianto flushed. "Was that all right? I'm sorry. I--"

The Doctor chuckled. Well. Maybe. He wrapped Ianto's hand in his. "It's fine. Absolutely."

Ianto nodded firmly and turned back to the light show. The Doctor waited a moment, arguing with himself, but he finally leaned a little into the dark haired man. Ianto blushed harder, but he leaned back himself. The Doctor sighed. Unexpected, but this was good. Very good. He smiled and squeezed Ianto's hand. And Ianto squeezed back.


End file.
